Excerpts From Wozzeck / Improvisation / The Midnight Sun

Renée Fleming

Compositor: Alban Berg / Fred Hersch / Georg Buchner / Johnny Mercer / Joseph Francis Burke / Lionel Hampton

Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice
Warmer than the summer night
The clouds were like an alabaster palace
Rising to a snowy height
Each star it's own aurora borealis
Suddenly you held me tight
I could see the midnight Sun

I can't explain the silver rain that found me
Or was that moonlit veil
The music of the universe around me
Or was that a nightingale
And then your arms miraculously found me
Suddenly the sky turned pale
I could see the midnight Sun

Was there such a night?
It's a thrill I still don't quite believe
But after you were gone
There was still some stardust on my sleeve
The flame of it may dwindle to an ember
And the stars forget to shine
And we may see the meadow in December
Icy white and crystalline
But, oh my darlin' always I'll remember
When your lips were close to mine
And I saw the midnight Sun